A 20th Century Speculative Fiction Reading List
Explore the best 20th century speculative fiction books with our curated reading list. Discover classic sci-fi, fantasy, and dystopian novels that defined the genre.
Book
The Trial
by Franz Kafka
A brilliant translation of one of the most important novels of the twentieth century, revealing a tale that is as full of energy and power …
Book
The Castle
by Franz Kafka
From the author of The Metamorphosis and The Trial—one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century—the haunting tale of K.’s relentless, unavailing struggle with …
Book
I, Robot
by Isaac Asimov
This classic science fiction masterwork by Isaac Asimov weaves stories about robots, humanity, and the deep questions of existence into a novel of shocking intelligence …
Book
Foundation
by Isaac Asimov
The story of our future begins with the Foundation. Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read For twelve thousand …
Book
The Once and Future King
by T. H. White
T. H. White’s masterful retelling of the saga of King Arthur is a fantasy classic as legendary as Excalibur and Camelot, and a poignant story …
Book
Naked Lunch
by William S. Burroughs
Bill Lee, an addict and hustler, travels to Mexico and then Tangier in order to find easy access to drugs, and ends up in the …
Book
Solaris
by Stanisław Lem
Kris Kelvin lands on the space station Solaris only to face a cruel miracle.
Book
Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut
“A free-wheeling vehicle . . . an unforgettable ride!”—The New York Times Cat’s Cradle is Kurt Vonnegut’s satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. …
Book
V.
by Thomas Pynchon
The wild, macabre tale of the twentieth century and of two men -- one looking for something he has lost, the other with nothing much …
Book
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
by Philip K. Dick
A masterpiece ahead of its time, a prescient rendering of a dark future, and the inspiration for the blockbuster film Blade Runner One of The …
Book
Gravity's Rainbow (Classics Deluxe Edition)
by Thomas Pynchon
A Penguin Classic Winner of the 1973 National Book Award, Gravity's Rainbow is a postmodern epic, a work as exhaustively significant to the second half …
Book
Crash
by J. G. Ballard
In this hallucinatory novel, an automobile provides the hellish tableau in which Vaughan, a "TV scientist" turned "nightmare angel of the highways," experiments with erotic …
Book
Breakfast of Champions
by Kurt Vonnegut
“Marvelous . . . [Vonnegut] wheels out all the complaints about America and makes them seem fresh, funny, outrageous, hateful and lovable.”—The New York Times …
Book
High-rise
by J. G. Ballard
An eerie glimpse into the future, a spine-tingling fable of the concrete jungle.
Book
Shikasta
by Doris Lessing
The first volume in the Canopus in Argos: Archives series is resented as a compilation of documents, reports, letters, speeches and journal entries, and purports …
Book
Neuromancer
by William Gibson
Case, a burned-out computer whiz, is asked to steal a security code that is locked in the most heavily guarded databank in the solar system, …
Book
Nights at the Circus
by Angela Carter
Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction From the master of the literary supernatural and author of The Bloody Chamber, her acclaimed …
Book
The Wasp Factory
by Iain Banks
Powerful, perverse, and engrossing, this controversial novel offers a graphic portrait of a serial killer told in the first-person. "Read it if you dare!"--"The Daily …
Book
Legend
by David Gemmell
“David Gemmell tells a tale of very real adventure, the stuff of true epic fantasy.”—R. A. Salvatore Druss, Captain of the Ax, is the stuff …
Book
Hawksmoor
by Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd's Hawksmoor - part of the limited edition PENGUIN STREET ART series: timeless writing, enduring design. 'There is no Light without Darknesse and no …
Book
Contact
by Carl Sagan
In December, 1999, a multinational team journeys out to the stars, to the most awesome encounter in human history. Who -- or what -- is …
Book
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
by Douglas Adams
Detective Gently whizzes about the world, the universe, and time itself as a group of eccentric characters help him find an eccentric cat, solve a …